Lexicogrammar and speech acts of the Estonian SMS-communication
Submitted by:
Krista Kerge
Abstract:
One of the L1-teaching objectives is style, its recognition and use. Stylistics deals with explaining particular linguistic choices or interpretation of them by individuals and social groups in their use of language. This concerns both production and reception of authentic texts by their genre which defines language-specific choices (see Halliday & Hasan, 1985, p. 108). For example, the balance of parts of speech and characteristics of readability, contextuality-formality, and density based on this balance are highly different in the Estonian genres (see e.g., Kerge, Pajupuu 2010), and in genres of any language (see e.g., Heylighen and Dewaele, 2002). On the other hand, word-choices and their interpretations are always qualitative.
My research question is what is typical of texting as a relatively new electronic genre, i.e., in what extent are the means of private SMS-communication genre-specific and in what extent do they rely on knowledge of the standard Estonian language. This gives a possibility to define modern informal computer mediated communication—CMC, or more widely, smart-equipment-communication—which is a part of the basis of defining everyday style vs demanding stylistic standards. Describing it gives the students wider knowledge of language (genres and styles) and helps them to avoid everyday-means of the language use in demanding public pragmatically oriented texts taught at school.
Based on that, the presentation deals with private SMS-s of young adults grouped as bundles of 1-12 units of one continuous dialogue (262 messages in 59 bundles), analysing their parameters, such as composition, communicative functions (speech acts), specific lexicogrammatical choices, specific means of text shortening, etc. Private texting mainly occurring as dialogue is compared to 150 Estonian SMS advertisements (monologues) studied in parallel. As compared to Crystal (2008), the study shows that texting in highly language- and function specific.
References
Crystal, David (2008). Txtng: The Gr8 Dbt. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.
Halliday, Michael; Hasan, Ruqaiya (1985). Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jeffries, Lesley; McIntyre, Daniel (2010). Stylistics. Cambridge, NY, etc.: Cambridge University Press.
Kerge, Krista; Pajupuu, Hille (2010). Text-types in speech technology and language teaching. In Bueno Alonso, Jorge L., Dolores Gonzalez Alvarez, Ursula Kirsten Torrado, Ana E. Martinez Insua jt (toim.). Analizar datos > Describir variación / Analysing data > Describing variation (pp. 380–390). Vigo: Universidad de Vigo (Servizo de Publicacións). [Accessable via ResearchGate]